I'm going to warn you right now, if you're expecting me to unearth a 250 GTO or a 63 split window vette, stop now. This is a far lower return on investment when it comes to your time spent reading this.
So a little backstory behind this, around the middle of October I was down at MIR for a Mustang6G track rental. MIR is a very short drive from my grandmothers house, so I don't mind driving 5 1/2 hours down to southern Maryland to do things down there. In between MIR and my grandmothers house is my uncle's place. As you are about to see, he is a literal hoarder. He's moving to a new house in VA in a couple months and I wanted to see the cars I've heard about since I was a kid that were locked away in his barn. The last time I tried to go in here, I was 12 and got attacked by the barn cats.
Here are some pictures from October
First up, 1975 Opel Manta 1900 4spd. This car has a monster 1.9L cam in head 4 cylinder with Bosch L-jet EFI which produces 90hp. L-jet is the even more primitive version of the EFI on my BMW so I'm already somewhat familiar with how this system works. My uncle believes this car was driven in here around 1990, the registration expired in 85. So figure its been sitting for at most 30 years.
Next up, we have a 1975 Opel Kadett C. I believe this is a 1.2L CIH I4 with the same L-jet EFI and 4spd. This car had 1984 registration on it as well as some sweet washington DC plates I need to take. My uncle told me he bought this car second hand and owned it for a day before his at the time girlfriend's friend borrowed it and got into an accident a mile from his apartment. He said the car is really low mile, we might be stealing the 4spd from this car. Its already had some parts taken from the engine like the distributor cap, water pump and plug wires. Oh, all the wheels are gone and its on blocks as well. It sucks this car is smashed up, the paint overall is really clean (still has a gloss) and its more rust free than the manta.
Up next, a 1971 MG Midget Mk.III with 60,000 miles on it. My uncle bought this new in 71 and daily drove it until he got his first pickup truck sometime around 80 or 81. I believe this has a 1.3L BMC A-Series I4 which makes 54hp. This car is actually the most solid car in the barn, it just sucks that MG's are virtually worthless and it costs way more to restore one than they are worth. I actually do have someone who is interested in buying this car so it may see the road again.
Note the British Leyland badge, a stamp of quality. Or it means your car was slapped together by people who were planning to go on strike)
You'd think this was over, but around the corner this keeps going. I found some vehicles I thought were sold long ago, turns out they didn't get that far.
2001 Toyota Tundra SR5 4.7L V8. I know this has well over 200k on it, my uncle told me I can have it to flip. I don't have the room right now so the jury is out on that. I actually remember driving this truck around amish country (in southern MD, not Lancaster PA) when I was about 12.
Speaking of things I remember from my younger years, this was parked right across from it.
This is a 1995 Toyota T100 DX. 3.4L DOHC V6 (190hp/220tq) backed by a 5spd manual. It has literally just over 200k miles on it. Really wish it was a SR5 4wd, one with this miles on it is worth about 6 grand believe it or not.
But it gets even better, we're out of the barn and into the cabbage now. We discovered yet another Manta hiding out in the trees.
I don't know much about this car because I can't get a vin or even get inside it. Its a 1973 Manta with a carbureted version of the 1900 series CIH engine. Backed by a 3spd automatic, this car has pre 5mph bumpers as well as a much cleaner, mostly in tact black interior. The body is absolutely shot though, you can see the ground when you open the trunk, which we had to use a bar to pry into and ripped the trunk latch out of the body.
That brings us to this past weekend. My friend who was with me decided he just had to own the barn Manta because he liked how it looked. We plan on getting it running/driving and using it in some SCCA rally-x races in the area. Will we win? Probably not. Will we be the most unique car on the course? You bet your ass we will.
This past Saturday after a ton of running around trying to get ready, we got to my Uncles place around 3pm. I had to go to the title place in town to find out who this car was legally registered to so I could get a duplicate title for my friend. Turns out its in my uncle's ex-wife's name. My grandmother is still in good standing with her and my uncle's ex-wife agreed to sign the MVA forms to get a duplicate title so we can re-register the car in my friends name.
So here is how Saturday went. After getting all the junk out of the way of the Manta, we had to find 3 wheels that were 4x100 and held air (only one on the car took air). We got that situated, but the car would not move. Every wheel was locked up, so back in the air it went and we beat every brake free. We also had to hit the shifter with a mallet to get it unstuck and make sure it was in neutral.
Once that was situated, we pulled it out with my friends 18hp Gravely tractor and his brother worked the steering/brakes.
(Looks like its snowing? No, thats actually dust flying around the barn from us moving)
So here is the part that really sucked, once we got it out of the barn, we had to get it on the trailer. My uncles driveway was literally as wide as the trailer and with no room to just spin around. We had to back the trailer + the F250 down the driveway, downhill in the dark, spin it onto his front lawn and pull it forward so it was facing downhill. This took 45 minutes and multiple tries to accomplish.
Once that was sorted, we used the tractor as an anchor and let the car roll itself down the hill with the tractor keeping it from being a runaway manta. Thankfully the Manta E-brake still worked, so it had some form of stopping.
Another half hour later, we had it on the trailer.
Holy shit did that night suck, what a load of work for a car thats worth about 30 dollars.
I stopped over my friends house later in the night and we threw a battery in the car just to see what happened. Amazingly, the engine cranked over like it was just parked yesterday. The only electrical system that worked was the headlights, absolutely nothing else works. Tons of wires are unplugged so after some interior cleanup that has to get sorted.
First signs of life!
So a little backstory behind this, around the middle of October I was down at MIR for a Mustang6G track rental. MIR is a very short drive from my grandmothers house, so I don't mind driving 5 1/2 hours down to southern Maryland to do things down there. In between MIR and my grandmothers house is my uncle's place. As you are about to see, he is a literal hoarder. He's moving to a new house in VA in a couple months and I wanted to see the cars I've heard about since I was a kid that were locked away in his barn. The last time I tried to go in here, I was 12 and got attacked by the barn cats.
Here are some pictures from October
First up, 1975 Opel Manta 1900 4spd. This car has a monster 1.9L cam in head 4 cylinder with Bosch L-jet EFI which produces 90hp. L-jet is the even more primitive version of the EFI on my BMW so I'm already somewhat familiar with how this system works. My uncle believes this car was driven in here around 1990, the registration expired in 85. So figure its been sitting for at most 30 years.
Next up, we have a 1975 Opel Kadett C. I believe this is a 1.2L CIH I4 with the same L-jet EFI and 4spd. This car had 1984 registration on it as well as some sweet washington DC plates I need to take. My uncle told me he bought this car second hand and owned it for a day before his at the time girlfriend's friend borrowed it and got into an accident a mile from his apartment. He said the car is really low mile, we might be stealing the 4spd from this car. Its already had some parts taken from the engine like the distributor cap, water pump and plug wires. Oh, all the wheels are gone and its on blocks as well. It sucks this car is smashed up, the paint overall is really clean (still has a gloss) and its more rust free than the manta.
Up next, a 1971 MG Midget Mk.III with 60,000 miles on it. My uncle bought this new in 71 and daily drove it until he got his first pickup truck sometime around 80 or 81. I believe this has a 1.3L BMC A-Series I4 which makes 54hp. This car is actually the most solid car in the barn, it just sucks that MG's are virtually worthless and it costs way more to restore one than they are worth. I actually do have someone who is interested in buying this car so it may see the road again.
Note the British Leyland badge, a stamp of quality. Or it means your car was slapped together by people who were planning to go on strike)
You'd think this was over, but around the corner this keeps going. I found some vehicles I thought were sold long ago, turns out they didn't get that far.
2001 Toyota Tundra SR5 4.7L V8. I know this has well over 200k on it, my uncle told me I can have it to flip. I don't have the room right now so the jury is out on that. I actually remember driving this truck around amish country (in southern MD, not Lancaster PA) when I was about 12.
Speaking of things I remember from my younger years, this was parked right across from it.
This is a 1995 Toyota T100 DX. 3.4L DOHC V6 (190hp/220tq) backed by a 5spd manual. It has literally just over 200k miles on it. Really wish it was a SR5 4wd, one with this miles on it is worth about 6 grand believe it or not.
But it gets even better, we're out of the barn and into the cabbage now. We discovered yet another Manta hiding out in the trees.
I don't know much about this car because I can't get a vin or even get inside it. Its a 1973 Manta with a carbureted version of the 1900 series CIH engine. Backed by a 3spd automatic, this car has pre 5mph bumpers as well as a much cleaner, mostly in tact black interior. The body is absolutely shot though, you can see the ground when you open the trunk, which we had to use a bar to pry into and ripped the trunk latch out of the body.
That brings us to this past weekend. My friend who was with me decided he just had to own the barn Manta because he liked how it looked. We plan on getting it running/driving and using it in some SCCA rally-x races in the area. Will we win? Probably not. Will we be the most unique car on the course? You bet your ass we will.
This past Saturday after a ton of running around trying to get ready, we got to my Uncles place around 3pm. I had to go to the title place in town to find out who this car was legally registered to so I could get a duplicate title for my friend. Turns out its in my uncle's ex-wife's name. My grandmother is still in good standing with her and my uncle's ex-wife agreed to sign the MVA forms to get a duplicate title so we can re-register the car in my friends name.
So here is how Saturday went. After getting all the junk out of the way of the Manta, we had to find 3 wheels that were 4x100 and held air (only one on the car took air). We got that situated, but the car would not move. Every wheel was locked up, so back in the air it went and we beat every brake free. We also had to hit the shifter with a mallet to get it unstuck and make sure it was in neutral.
Once that was situated, we pulled it out with my friends 18hp Gravely tractor and his brother worked the steering/brakes.
(Looks like its snowing? No, thats actually dust flying around the barn from us moving)
So here is the part that really sucked, once we got it out of the barn, we had to get it on the trailer. My uncles driveway was literally as wide as the trailer and with no room to just spin around. We had to back the trailer + the F250 down the driveway, downhill in the dark, spin it onto his front lawn and pull it forward so it was facing downhill. This took 45 minutes and multiple tries to accomplish.
Once that was sorted, we used the tractor as an anchor and let the car roll itself down the hill with the tractor keeping it from being a runaway manta. Thankfully the Manta E-brake still worked, so it had some form of stopping.
Another half hour later, we had it on the trailer.
Holy shit did that night suck, what a load of work for a car thats worth about 30 dollars.
I stopped over my friends house later in the night and we threw a battery in the car just to see what happened. Amazingly, the engine cranked over like it was just parked yesterday. The only electrical system that worked was the headlights, absolutely nothing else works. Tons of wires are unplugged so after some interior cleanup that has to get sorted.
First signs of life!
